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Pope Francis gets a papal-themed Lamborghini Huracan

Lamborghini picked a special recipient for the newest and rarest version of its Huracan RWD, giving an ultra limited-edition version of the supercar to Pope Francis in a ceremony Wednesday at the Vatican attended by company executives. The new Popemobile, it's not. Fittingly, according to Catholic News Agency, it's the seventh version of the Huracan, the Italian company's entry-level model. It's set to be auctioned at RM Sotheby's on May 12, 2018, with orders from the Holy See to split the proceeds between three charitable causes: restoring villages on the Nineveh Plain in Iraq, helping victims of human trafficking and supporting missionary work in Africa. The papal Huracan RWD is done in Monocerus white with Tiberio yellow stripes running along the hood, roof and body, reflecting the colors of the flag of Vatican City. It was blessed and autographed by the pontiff in the presence of Lamborghini Chairman and CEO Stefano Domenicali, board members and two employees who helped build the car. The Huracan is the successor to the Gallardo, Lamborghini's best-selling model of all time, with a design inspired by the hexagonal form of the carbon atom. It's powered by a naturally aspirated, 5.2-liter V10 that makes 602 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque. Normally, the sports car starts $199,800. But a version blessed and autographed by the pope? Priceless...Related Video:

Lambo Urus to stay true to concept, but almost didn't happen

Lamborghini has been making noise about adding a third model line for years, and it's finally going to happen now that the Urus concept has been approved for production. It'll likely be a while yet before all the details are sorted out and revealed to the public, but while visiting the factory in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Autoblog was able to glean some intriguing details about the Italian automaker's forthcoming crossover and its path it is taking from concept to production. "It's good to have heritage, but the LM002 is not the reference or the blueprint." - Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann We first saw the Urus concept back in 2012, and Lamborghini has been lobbying its parent company Volkswagen ever since for the go-ahead to put it into production. Now three years later, it finally has the green light. A company representative told Autoblog the production version looks "very" close to the concept. (No ground-up redesign here, then, like sister-brand Bentley did with its inaugural crossover project.) Speaking with a small group of journalists in Sant'Agata, the company's chief executive Stephan Winkelmann confirmed that "the SUV could be the [company's] first car with a turbo, and it could be the first car with a plug-in, if we have the opportunity to have more than one engine." The Urus (or however it's ultimately labeled for production) will also be decidedly geared towards on-road performance – unlike the Rambo Lambo on display in the museum next door. "It's good to have heritage," said Winkelmann, "but the LM002 is not the reference or the blueprint" for the new model. As to the question of why it has taken three years to get approval, and why it will take another three to put it into production, Winkelmann was frank: "Basically if you look at our numbers, we are a company which is growing at a fast pace, but we are very small," said the affable executive. "We had to find a way to almost double our efforts, because it's not the exchange of a model line, with the Gallardo and Huracan, it's adding a model line. And not out of 20 to come to 21 models, but from two to three is a major effort, and you have to have a rock-solid business case." "Putting 500 more people inside a company which is now at 1,200, you can imagine what it means. Doubling almost the size of the area here where we are sitting today. Investing hundreds and hundreds of millions.

The 2019 Lamborghini Urus, fastest SUV in the world, has landed

A Lamborghini has got to stand out from the crowd. In the supercar world, that means things like scissor-doors, massive wings, and almost impossibly wedge-shaped profiles. In the SUV world, standing out apparently means a dramatically descending roofline, a fascia with more cuts, contours, and creases than a bright yellow origami Pikachu. You certainly won't mistake the Lamborghini Urus for anything else on the road. That flavescent bodywork hides a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 sending a stout 641 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque through an 8-speed automatic transmission to all four wheels. It hits 62 mph in 3.6 seconds, and we anxiously await the first YouTube video showing an Urus lined up against a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk for ultimate SUV-acceleration bragging rights. With a top speed of 189.5 mph, Rambo Lambo Part Deux seemingly makes good use of all those aero bits to outrun the Trackhawk by a solid 10 mph, and the Bentley Bentayga by a razor-slim troika. The hi-po engine is backed up with standard carbon ceramic brakes, active roll control, and a torque vectoring rear differential. With all of these performance goodies employed, Lamborghini expects it to have a Nurburgring lap time that will break the Alfa Stelvio Quadrifoglio's outstanding 7:15 time. 2019 Lamborghini Urus View 11 Photos We can't imagine many owners taking an Urus off road, but Lamborghini cites the low-down torque of the turbocharged V8 as an off-pavement benefit. And, in addition to the expected modes of Strada, Sport, Corsa and Neve (a typically Italian stand-in for Snow), there are Terra (off-road) and Sabbia (sand) modes. Each sportier road mode lowers the air suspension, and the off-road modes raise the suspension for ground clearance. Rear-wheel steering based on the system from the Aventador S can change steering angle between positive and negative 3 degrees, and it is likely to come in handy no matter what kind of terrain you're traveling. Lamborghini has expanded its factory in Sant'Agata in order to ramp up production on the Urus, which, when it goes on sale in 2018 as a 2019 model with a pricetag of about $200,000, is expected to be the marque's bestseller. In fact, the Group are hoping that it will eventually double annual global sales, from 3500 to 7000. The SUV market is currently booming, and Lambo plans other variants of this model, including its first plug-in hybrid, so this seems within the realm of possible.